Historically, concrete structure has long been used for enduring, damage resistant construction. During that history improvements have been introduced, yet there still remain drawbacks and deficiencies with conventional practice of forming concrete structures and the results obtained.
The shortcomings of conventional forming methods include waste of material, time and labor in forming and the required additional structures for attachment of “finish”. Various methods to address these have been utilized but none of these methods have been as simple and standardized as the solution presented by the present invention.
The conventional form of concrete construction has not become popular or extensively used with lighter construction for smaller buildings and various lighter applications, such as small office buildings, low-rise multi-dwelling units and individual residential housing units because of aesthetic limitations imposed.
There have been many configurations of foam blocks or foam planks, which have been introduced to the construction industry to simplify the forming and construction of foam, insulated concrete structure. Each of these has addressed the problem in similar fashion with molded shapes with integral spreaders and or webs between the exterior and interior surfaces, having molded hollows and pockets into which the concrete is placed, but which impede the easy and uniform flow of concrete introduced therein. The usual configuration is a relatively small molded block form None have addressed the above problems as simply and directly as does the present invention.
A further problem with known concrete forming systems employing foam blocks, is that the light weight of the foam blocks can lead to the forms being blown over by high winds even before the concrete is poured. This is a particular problem in areas of flat terrain, where high winds occur more frequently.
These and other problems of the background art may be overcome by the present invention, as will be discussed below with regard to the drawings.